Safehouse
by GuyWithTheCatTattoos
Summary: By strange coincidence the GSG9 team have found themselves essentially trapped in a small cabin with two Russian enemies, both sides stuck and lost within a snow storm in the middle of nowhere. Reluctantly, they must find a way to put their differences aside and survive together. But it's not easy...
1. Chapter 1:

**This story is inspired by the movie (based on a true story) "Into The White".**

 **There may be character deaths. I love all Siege operators, but this is meant to be a drama.**

 **Story will be entirely from Blitz's p.o.v.**

 **Characters aren't mine.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **Chapter 1:**

* * *

We're fucked.

My positivity is long gone. Our plane was shot down in the middle of nowhere. Jager – our pilot – was injured with a broken arm, and battered up like the rest of us. But we're alive. We're alive, but we're stuck in the snow, in unknown territory. The GPS in the plane wasn't reading correctly in the heavy snowstorm. We could be on enemy grounds.

We've lost almost all of our weapons and ammo; my shield was destroyed. We barely have bullets for our handguns. Jager can't shoot with his main arm injured. And we're frozen to our bones, trudging through snow, without any sign of shelter or civilization.

We left our burning plane behind hours ago. It's starting to get dark already and we haven't had any chance to rest. I'm growing numb and I want to sleep. But my mind is racing. The darker it gets, the more I lose hope. I think of Jager. At home he has a beautiful fiancé. He has a baby on the way, only due in a month. And I get to be the godfather. I'm so grateful, and I'm so happy for them. He's a brilliant pilot, and he'll make a great father.

I think of Bandit. I think of how he's consistently a pain in my ass, and how often I genuinely question his mental stability. Then he always finds a way to impress me with his intelligence and insight. And his random acts of kindness. I remember when we went to senior care homes to volunteer. Bandit was so kind to the patients, he was almost a different person. He was so gentle, and I never heard him say anything snarky. I saw him once paint the nails of a bed-ridden woman who was so grateful for his attention to her, she put him in her will.

Of course, I think of I.Q. Most people who know us think we are in love, or should be together romantically. We joke about this. I.Q. is not into men. And although I can admit she is beautiful, funny, and sweet, I can't say I'm in love. I've never been able to explain this to anyone who will listen, but she and I are best friends. Perhaps I think of her as a sibling.

But I care immensely about her. I don't consider myself emotional. I hide my negative feelings very well. But she is the one who can see through, and listen to me. After bugging me to open up to her, at least.

I feel responsible for their lives. It's not just because I am squad leader. We've been through a lot, and always I feel I owe them my life. I promised myself I'd do anything to protect them…

* * *

Another heavy gust of freezing wind blows directly into us. There are hardly any trees around to break the wind apart. The sky is completely clear now. When I think about it, it's been clear since we started walking. Of course it was a stormy mess when we were up in the air…

I glance up at the sky often as we kept walking. It's somewhat soothing to see the stars so clearly. In my darkest times, I always told myself I hoped that, when it was my time to die, I could die looking at the stars. It was really sinking in now.

Bandit and I began to argue. Mostly he was yelling and I was telling him to stop. I wasn't in the mood to listen to it. I. Q., who was ahead of us a ways, interrupted us with a shout. We stopped to look ahead at her.

"Look!" She points ahead. We didn't see what it was until we caught up to her. Down in a valley was a cabin. Smoke began to puff out of the chimney. I could smell it as the wind blew towards us again. "Let's go!" I said, excitedly. We ran towards are new destination, as fast as we could in the deep snow.

When we got to the front door of the cabin, we briefly agreed to charge in. We weren't in the mood to knock politely and wait. And we had a feeling that whoever was in the cabin wasn't going to just invite some random, bloodied-up soldiers inside, regardless if we're on enemy or neutral grounds.

The four of us ran inside, with a quick glance around, until we stood frozen and facing two men across from us by the fireplace. My breath caught. Our pistols were pointed at them. One of them had an SMG of some kind pointed at us. He had a mask over his face and a hood over his head. His eyes were red and crazy. The other man was sat on the lower part of a bunkbed, with a large, rusty beartrap deeply bitten into his ankle. He had a headset around his neck. He wasn't armed, but glared back at us with the same intensity as the other man. His face wasn't covered, and it was smeared with bloody fingerprints. I also saw dried blood in and around parts of his messy, brown hair. His coat was on a chair close to the fire, so he had a black long-sleeved shirt on.

They both had white-and-gray camo. Their jackets had Russia's flag on them. They're our enemy.

There were bloody footprints and splatters all over the floor. The man aiming his gun at us had blood all over himself and his hands, and we had clearly interrupted him attempting to bandage up his partner's wound. There were reddened bandages wrapped all around the wound and carefully around the teeth of the trap. Did he not know how to disengage it?

It was utterly silent, except for the fire crackling and the wind blowing through the open front door.

It was tense. I almost forgot how cold I was. Then from across the room we heard the armed man speak in a low, accented tone, "Leave here. Now,"

"No," I shot back immediately. I firmly explained ourselves to him, "Our plane was downed. We have an injured friend, and we can't stay in the cold all night,"

"This place is ours. You are not welcome, _свиньи_ *. Go, or I shoot," the man growled back at me.

I noticed the other Russian looking away, wincing in pain. The blood from his wound continued dripping onto the floor as he attempted to finish wrapping his ankle. I continued, "Where do you suggest we go?"

"Go to hell."

Alright, I set myself up for that. But I don't back down.

"We are staying here. I don't like it, either, but we must,"

Bandit spoke up, nearly interrupting me, "We don't want to be friends with you. You keep to yourselves, we'll keep to ours," I nod in agreement.

The armed Russian's eyes look over all of ours. After a moment, I speak up again, "We will leave as soon as we can," I assure him. I put my gun away, slowly, carefully watching his reaction. He's quiet, but attentive. I gesture for my teammates to do the same, keeping my eye on the Russian. After a tense moment he lowers his gun as well. I see I.Q. in my peripheral view quietly step towards the front door and shut it.

I nod to the nervous Russians. They nod back. We have somewhat of a truce.

Now I remember to breathe. And I remember I'm cold.

I notice, completely opposite of where the Russians are, behind us, there are more places to sleep that we can use. There is a bunkbed and a loveseat. I suggest to Jager and I.Q. that they lie down and rest. Bandit was already headed to the top bunk.

I look at the armed Russian, "Where are we?"

"I don't know. We crashed near here,"

He was covered in blood, but I couldn't tell if any of it was his own. He looked otherwise unscathed, "You also crashed? In a plane?"

"Yes."

"Odd coincidence. Are we in Russia? Do you know that much?"

The man adjusts on the chair he's been sitting on. They've both been staring at me.

"We are not in Russia. Quit asking questions." He rubs his eyes, tiredly. It looks like he hasn't slept in days.

"Kapkan, _cпи сейчас**_ …" the other man says to his armed counterpart. His voice was somehow more calm and collected. "Kapkan" shook his head, replying with a simple "no" in Russian.

Hmm. "What is your name?" I ask the injured one. Kapkan answers instead, "Is none of your business! Stop with the questions,"

Before I can argue, the other man quietly answers, "Glaz".

"Kapkan and Glaz…" I look at Kapkan, who's clearly agitated. I respond quickly, "I'm not asking to befriend you, but I don't think the snow is going away by tomorrow, so we may be stuck here longer than any of us would like. So, we can at least know the names of each other,"

"Why bother, Blitz? Let's sleep and head out tomorrow. I don't want to stay here with these guys, do you?," Bandit says from the top bunk of "our side" of the cabin. I sigh and point my thumb back at his direction, "That's Bandit. Ignore him,"

"He speaks truth," Kapkan responds. 'Maybe you two can be friends then,' I think to myself, annoyed.

"The man on the lower bunk is Jager. The one on the loveseat is I.Q." I finish.

Glaz nods. Kapkan is silent. Nothing else is said between us.

* * *

I head over to the loveseat and grab I.Q.'s hands, gently tugging her up to her feet. "You don't need to sleep here. Use the bed,"

"I don't want to bother Jager with his arm the way it is," she says, worriedly.

"Share with Bandit," I look up at Bandit relaxed on the top mattress. He's on his stomach, hugging the small pillow, now looking down at us. "There's not enough room," he says. I can't tell if he's really being childish or sarcastic.

"I don't particularly want to sleep next to you, either…" She says to him, jokingly.

"Bandit, I.Q. sleeps up there. Either you can share or you can have the loveseat. I'm trying to be polite here," seeing as the loveseat won't fit an adult comfortably.

"Okay, Dad," Bandit responds, helping I.Q. up onto his bed. Jager was already asleep on the bottom bunk, not even under the blankets. I pulled the blankets up over him as far as I could without waking him. Then I headed to the loveseat and sat down. Feels comfier than it looks, but… no, I won't complain. I could be out trying to sleep in the snow instead. We're lucky. Though I do not trust the Russians across the room. I'm still cautious. I don't like this situation at all, but we must make the best of it. I hear I.Q. make a noise to get my attention, so I look at her, curiously, "Hm?"

She whispers, "Should I watch?" I shake my head. "I will, first. I'll wake you for 2nd watch," She gives me a thumbs up before curling up behind Bandit's back. He jokingly grumbles, "Hold still, I'm trying to sleep!" I see him jump slightly, I.Q. probably pinched him. I am glad they all seem to be able to go to sleep so quickly. But that also tells me just how exhausted they are. Even if I hadn't volunteered to stay awake for the first half of the night, I don't think I could rest peacefully.

I sigh again. It's gonna be a long night. I wonder what tomorrow will bring? I sit back and exchange cautious glances with Kapkan, while his own partner is curled up in bed, asleep, with his damaged leg bleeding through the blankets.

 *** - "pigs"**

 **** - "sleep now"**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all for the reviews. Not just on this story, but some of my others. I enjoy them, whether they're good or bad.**

 **I'm trying a new way of breaking up the paragraphs since 's program doesn't work well for me. Sorry if it looks odd.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **Chapter 2:**

* * *

Jager hasn't been sleeping well.

We've been here for 3 days now. There hasn't been any conversation between us and the Russians… Glaz and Kapkan. Glaz is still bed-ridden with the heavy bear-trap attached to his ankle. We hear him speaking in Russian with Kapkan while they try to remove the trap, but so far they haven't made any progress. Eventually Kapkan shouts curses in his native tongue and goes outside until he calms down.

Jager's arm has really become an issue. I'm gently feeling up and down his injured arm right now. It's easy to tell where the bone has broken, but it wasn't visible to the naked eye. It was near his elbow.

"Sorry, Jager. I know it hurts badly. Just keep it in your arm sling and be careful. Hopefully we will get out of here soon." I help him put his arm back in the sling he wore, quietly wishing for the snow storms to pass away so we can find a way out of this place.

"Don't worry, Blitz. I plan to get out of here with or without my arm." He lies down on his bed, carefully.

"You will definitely have your arm, because none of us are going to cut it off." I joke with him.

"I would." Bandit adds, sitting at the kitchen table in a stool, drinking a mug of water.

Jager laughs, "Yeah, you would, you crazy son of a bitch."

Bandit responds, "I'll probably have to cut off a leg, too."

I.Q. and I glared at him, knowing he was referring to Glaz's situation. Kapkan was at attention, staring at Bandit, "What you say?"

"It was a joke." He waves it off.

"You don't make jokes about us, Kraut," Kapkan growled. Glaz was lying down on his bed with his arm over his eyes, looking like he was trying to ignore the entire argument.

Bandit stares back at Kapkan now. I can tell he's not going to shut his mouth like he should.

"I can make jokes about whatever I want. Hey, maybe I'll be doing you and him a favor cutting that thing off." He didn't laugh or smile. He's saying things to provoke him.

"Bandit, _h_ _ö_ _r auf damit, Dummkopf_!*" I snap at him, but he pays no attention to me. Jager and I.Q. are quietly watching.

Kapkan stands up, about to walk to over to Bandit, "I will fucking kill you," he threatens him, but is interrupted by Glaz grabbing his leg, preventing him from heading over to Bandit. "Both you be quiet. I have much pain in my head," He squints up at Kapkan. He listens to Glaz, but keeps his deadly glare focused on Bandit.

Part of me thinks that Bandit does need his ass kicked every now and then. But in these circumstances, I can't allow it.

"Is it true that Spetsnaz are secretly gay?"

God damn it, Dominic!

I hear I.Q. mutter, "Idiot!" and Jager groans.

Before I knew it, Bandit was on the floor with Kapkan on top of him, getting in a few hits before it just became a wrestling match. Glaz sat up and adjusted in bed to watch the two fight. He was clearly unhappy, and looked completely worn out.

I.Q. grabbed Bandit, and I wrapped my arms around Kapkan from behind, trying to pry him off. Even Jager got involved, helping us pull them apart. After a few more moments of grabbing at each other, we got them to separate. Both had a bloody nose but Bandit got beaten much more overall. He was a little disorientated while Kapkan stood back, panting lightly but still sharp. He wiped the blood from his nose. His hood and mask had been removed, showing off his somewhat long, messy brown hair and slight stubble. Some of his hair fell over his eyes in locks.

We sat Bandit down on the loveseat on our side of the cabin. Kapkan had sat back down, exchanging quiet words with Glaz.

"Can you understand me, Bandit?" I questioned him as I held onto his shoulders, standing in front of him, looking into his eyes, though he refused to return the gaze.

"Yeah, I understand you." He mumbles.

"Good. Listen to me, Bandit: you are not a child, or a teenager. Learn to watch your mouth, especially when you're stuck in a room with an armed man that already hates you!"

Bandit responded simply with, "Got it."

Somehow I doubt his answer, but I accept it for now. I look over at I.Q. who is sitting next to him. We both shake our head.

* * *

Later that night, I was standing at one of the windows, watching the snow fall. It was getting so deep that it was very difficult for us to go outside to go to the bathroom. But still, it was beautiful to see. It was all white, everywhere you looked. The snow had stopped falling for now, so the moon was out and bright, making the snow glitter.

"I'm still curious if they are…" I hear Bandit talking to I.Q. She groans, "Just shut up. Can you shut up?"

I turn and look at them, watching and listening. They're still sitting on the loveseat, by the window I'm now leaning against. I put my hands in my pockets and keep my ears open.

"It's just a question. I didn't need to get my ass kicked for it." Bandit shrugs. I shake my head, remaining silent.

"Your big, fat mouth is going to get us all killed," She joked, before becoming serious again, "Bandit, I know you're not stupid… but you're arrogant, and you need to be careful with that."

Bandit crossed his arms. His bruises were really visible now, but they didn't seem to bother him, "I.Q., does it bother you that he got offended about being asked if they were gay?" He stared at her. I couldn't tell if he was trying to piss her off, or if he was being genuinely curious.

After scoffing, I.Q. replied, "No… why would it offend me?"

"Aren't you gay?" He asks, bluntly.

With a look of shock and annoyance on her face, she shoots back, "How would you know?"

He continues looking at her, now looking amused, but still interested in learning more, "I looked in your wallet once and saw a picture of a cute girl in it," he was interrupted by I.Q. nearly shouting, "Stop getting into people's things!"

Bandit continued, undeterred, "Who's the sub in bed?"

I.Q. covered her face and shook her head, mumbling, "I can't believe you," behind her hands, before getting up and heading to bed. She laid on the top bunk as usual, but looked down at me and Bandit, saying, "Bandit, you sleep down there tonight. Blitz, come here, sleep on a real bed." She got under the covers and turned her back towards us.

Bandit looked away. He looked like he actually felt bad. I decided not to say anything more to him and went up onto the mattress to lie next to I.Q. I pulled part of the covers over me. Before I fell asleep, I heard Jager underneath us say one more thing to Bandit, "Good job, idiot." Bandit didn't respond.

 ***"Shut up, dumbass!"**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story. This one has been a little trickier to write, but you guys encourage me.**

 **Thanks.**

 **Chapter 3:**

* * *

It wasn't until the 7th or 8th day that the weather had become mild enough for us to debate leaving.

The snow was still knee-deep, but it hadn't snowed in 24 hours, and it was feeling… not at all 'warm', but not as painfully cold as before. It was becoming increasingly difficult to stay confined in here. Besides residing with the enemy, we were experiencing new major problems. All of us had gotten colds, but Jager was the worst. He was nearly bed-ridden, though refused to stay in it all day. He was trying to be tough through it. I.Q. was becoming sicker as well, but not as miserably as Jager. I'm worried for them.

The Russians weren't doing any better. For the past 3 days, Kapkan has been struggling to get Glaz to eat. Glaz has been firmly refusing any food, and the little he has eaten was soon vomited out. Kapkan was becoming so frustrated he would shout and storm outside into the cold, deep snow for a minute until he calmed down. Glaz had heavy, reddened bags under his eyes. He did not yet look like he was starving, but he was visibly losing weight. His shirt was loose over his body and he was weakened, even struggling to sit up.

We had all offered to take a look at the beartrap that plagued Glaz, but Kapkan always became defensive and wouldn't allow us to get close. I.Q. and Jager argued with him several times to get him to back down, but he would not. He even commented on the idea of I.Q. touching him would be bad, because she's gay. He must have heard Bandit blurt it out. That had turned into an interesting conversation, because after he made the homophobic remark, Glaz snapped at Kapkan for it. Glaz told him he had gay thoughts before, and they had often plagued him. Kapkan was stunned. Glaz continued to tell him that he, too, believes homosexuality is wrong, but that he's never been able to fight away his feelings, so he has tried to become accepting of his own sexuality. Kapkan looked disgusted. Eventually they started arguing in Russian, so I'm not sure how it concluded, if it did. But afterwards, Kapkan never mentioned anything about homosexuality again, and he still continued passionately caring for his comrade.

Now, my team and I are sat at the kitchen table, discussing our plans on leaving this place while the snowstorms have paused. The sky is even blue.

We all want to leave, and the food reserves in the cabin are getting low. All we have to guide us is a compass. We know that our crashed plane is south of here. My thought is to head East, continuing down the valley, staying low. It really comes down to the risks. Jager and I.Q. are sick, Jager dangerously so, and his arm is in severe pain. The best case scenario is we find some place of civilization and call in for extraction. Kapkan told me we are not in Russia, and I believe him. So I am not afraid of being threatened by locals, except for the fact we are armed.

But the worst case scenario is why we continue to sit here instead of leaving right away; what if we walk and walk without finding what we need? It's possible, perhaps even likely, that we'll be lost wandering in the winter wonderland again, but not be lucky enough to find another place of shelter. But I believe we need to take this opportunity to try. We cannot stay here forever.

We all are in agreement. We are all ready to leave.

After readying ourselves to step outside and begin our journey, I hear a voice as I reach for the doorknob. I look at Glaz. His cold, blue eyes are piercing into my own hazel eyes.

"I can ask favor?" He asks. He struggles to sit up, and grunts in pain, but manages, and again looks into my eyes. Kapkan tries to tell him to lie back down, but Glaz waves him off and says, "No," firmly. I watch him and give a simple, "Hm?"

Bandit butts in, interrupting Glaz as he's about to speak, "We're not doing any favors for you. You've killed a lot of innocent people. You've killed a lot of our friends. We are not on good terms." He says, bitterly. What he says is true, but…

"You are the same, to killing our people and friends, too," Glaz glares at him. Bandit snaps back, "We are not the same. It was your damn country that started this whole damn thing!" His voice gets louder, and angrier, "We've done nothing but try to fight you guys off and defend ourselves! Don't you fucking say we're the same." I silently sympathize with him.

Glaz scoffs, "Your media tell you lies, the politics tell you lies of Russia. We are threaten from beginning, from Kraut politics, what you don't see!"

"Bullshit!" Bandit shouts, but I.Q. shouts for them to stop before either can continue arguing. Bandit keeps glaring at Glaz, and Glaz looks over to I.Q. now, as do I.

I.Q. nudges Bandit with her elbow. He growls and jerks his arm away. Then she walks up close to Kapkan and Glaz. They both look like cornered animals, ready to defend themselves, unsure of her intentions. Surprisingly, Kapkan doesn't say anything to her about her standing close.

"Do you want us to try removing this thing?" she asks Glaz, getting straight to the point, but sounding genuinely kind. He nods, looking defeated. She looks over at Kapkan to see his reaction. All he says is, "I don't know how you can do it," but she takes her coat off, pulls her sleeves up, and gets ready to try.

She kneels down by the foot of the bed, almost between Kapkan and Glaz. Jager is exhausted and takes a seat at the kitchen table, but watches, completely intrigued. Bandit grumpily sits with him, while I stand a short distance besides I.Q. to watch her, thinking maybe between the two of us we can figure out a solution.

When she removes his sticky, soaked bandages, Kapkan starts to get antsy. The bleeding had stopped, but began lightly bleeding again since the bandages had stuck to the wound. Pus leaked out as well. It smelled bad, but I was surprised it wasn't more infected. Kapkan had done really well at keeping it clean, despite having to re-use the same bandages.

I.Q. looked at the jammed mechanism, careful not to move his leg too much.

"It's not jammed…" I mutter as I observe. I.Q. continued looking it over, "I think we can pull it apart," she says, in a somewhat relieved tone.

Kapkan speaks up in his deep, rough voice, "I know it can pull apart. I tried, but it wouldn't open even a little. Something is wrong with it." Glaz has laid back down, needing to relax, though in pain.

"You are just one person trying to open it…" she looks up at Kapkan from her knees, "There are four more people here now. Four times more power," she looks back at the trap and touches one of the springs, "I think this trap is faulty, because it has too much pressure to be released like it should be. Sometimes these traps require two people to remove—"

"I know how traps work," Kapkan interrupts. I.Q. continues, "Since you couldn't get it to budge even a little, I think it's gonna take more than two people to open it."

Jager and Bandit walk up. Jager says excitedly, "Let's do it, then!" Bandit looks at him, "How are you going to help with your arm broken, idiot?" Jager smiles at him, "You're gonna do it for me, dumbass." Immediately Bandit shakes his head and tries to walk away. Jager catches his arm and turns him so that they're facing each other, "I don't care if you don't want to help. I do, but I can't. Do this for me, not them." They stare at each other for a few moments before Bandit responds, "Why can't we just leave? When did we start caring about them?"

"I think being a dad is making me soft. In any other situation, I'd be right there with you, but this is an exception. But I keep thinking of how I'm gonna raise my kid. I want him or her to show kindness at every opportunity. There's an opportunity here, and a rare moment for us to put aside our differences." Well said, Marius.

Bandit sighs heavily, caving in, "You know I'm not the kind type, man."

"Yeah, but I am, sometimes. Be my hands, Bandit," he pats Bandit on the back and watches him come up to us, defeated.

I.Q. stands up and looks at Glaz, "We're gonna need space for all of us to grab on. I need you off the bed. You can lay on the floor, ok?" Glaz nods and immediately Kapkan is up and helping Glaz slide off the bed, carefully guiding him to the floor with my assistance. I get him to lie on his side so we can have the best angle of pulling. He's making pained noises the whole time, but being very cooperative. I can't imagine how he's feeling right now, to possibly have some relief, finally.

I.Q. and Kapkan grab at one jaw. Bandit and I grab at the other. There is no way for us to get a good hold without essentially digging our fingers into Glaz's wounds, unfortunately, which makes him moan and cry out. He's gripping his hair and clenching his teeth. Jager watches, concerned.

"We will pull on 3," I start, quickly beginning the countdown, "1…2…3!"

We pull hard at the jaws. Even with the four of us it took some effort to pry them open enough for Glaz to pull his leg through. But we did it. As soon as his foot slipped out, we all let go at the same time, jumping back as the trap snapped back shut and landed on Glaz, rolling off to the floor beside him. He was holding onto the knee of his wounded leg, writhing and crying in pain as it bled out again all over him and the floor.

I was thrilled. It felt like we had been trapped here with them forever, and all this time this old, heavy bear trap was on his ankle the whole time. I was happy we were able to get it removed. And it only occurred to me after we pulled it off how absurdly heavy the trap really was. I suppose if it's a trap for a bear, it must be that way…

Kapkan was knelt down immediately next to Glaz, getting the used bandages untangled and ready.

"You need to clean it first. Hold on," Bandit says, before going to a small cabinet in the kitchen. He returns quickly, a small, odd-shaped bottle in hand, "This will hurt," he warns, sounding a little devilish. I sometimes forget he can be a sadist. But I realize the bottle is vodka, so I don't stop him. Neither does Kapkan, to my surprise.

Glaz bites his lip when the alcohol floods through his wounds. He covers his face hard and writhes, but is trying to hold still. Bandit takes a swig of the vodka afterwards, and Kapkan starts to wrap the wound. It's bleeding through, the bright, fresh blood seeping through the dark, dried blood that's contaminated every pore of the bandages. I wish we had clean supplies for him.

"Kapkan," Glaz grips onto Kapkan's coat-sleeve. He looks down at his teammate. Glaz is looking into his eyes, but not saying anything. Kapkan finishes up the bandaging, quickly returning his attention to Glaz's eyes, "You are okay, Timur?"

"Nervous, Maxim," Glaz says, pained.

"Why nervous?" he asks.

Glaz looks over Kapkan's face. I.Q. and I exchange glances and give the two a little space. Bandit gave Jager the last swig of vodka as they sat at the loveseat.

"I not feel good."

"You are okay now. We removed it, now you can heal," Since Kapkan hasn't been wearing his mask or hood, I can easily see the concern growing on his face as he watches Glaz.

"We are stuck here, I need hospital. You can walk through snow, not me."

"You're telling me to leave you?" Kapkan asks, offended. Glaz slides his hand from Kapkan's sleeve to his hand, holding onto it. Kapkan looks down at their hands grasping each other, looking confused and uncomfortable. Then he looks back at his face. Glaz is looking at their hands held together, but his gaze lingers there.

"I not can leave. Stay here would be death for you," Glaz's sharp, icy eyes look up into Kapkan's pine-green eyes. The blue-eyed Russian is still breathing heavily and tensing up in pain.

"Well, none of us are gonna leave right now," I hear I.Q. say. I follow her gaze out the window, noticing the sky is clouding up again. Part of me feels disappointed that we can't leave yet. But I am also thankful we didn't go, or we would be caught up in the oncoming storm. We are all trapped here. What are we going to do?

* * *

Since Glaz's bed had been soaked in blood, and dirty from him staying in it for several days, we removed all the sheets and blankets from it and tosses them in the corner. The cabin had several extra blankets, none of them very thick, but they'd have to do. Kapkan remade the bed with most of them. We borrowed three for our own resting spots. We still had a decent amount of firewood, but we were trying to conserve, so it became very cold inside. I grow more worried about Jager and I.Q.

Glaz was lying in his freshly-made bed, with Kapkan in the chair at his side, as usual. He was drinking some instant coffee we found plenty of in the kitchen some time ago. It smells good.

But I'm focused on Jager's coughing. I'm sitting on the loveseat, watching him on the bottom bunk cough terribly. He is so congested that I can hear his difficulty breathing. His wheezing. All I can think to do is bring him a cup of the instant coffee, hoping the heated drink would help with his congestion. He thankfully accepted it, and it seemed to help just enough for him to fall asleep. It wasn't very late in the evening, it had only turned dark a little bit ago, but he was so exhausted he really needed to be in bed, resting. It was the same for Glaz. I hoped the blankets were enough to keep him warm.

I.Q. got her own coffee and walked up to Kapkan. His eyes were much more tired than I had seen before, and his hair was disheveled over his forehead and eyes. He looked up at her with only a small amount of tension in his eyes.

"Can I sit here with you?" She asks quietly, as to not wake Glaz. Kapkan nodded slightly, prompting I.Q. to come back to him with a stool from the kitchen table. They sat across from each other, drinking their coffee. Feeling myself getting a little sleepy, I laid down on the loveseat, curled up on my side, facing away from them. I covered myself with my blankets, including my head, and snuck my fingers up through my hair. I gently gripped onto my head. I was so stressed out and scared that we would die out here. That they wouldn't return to their family. Never would I let my teammates know how terrified I am. I felt choked up once I was comfortably hidden under the covers. I gripped my head tight and fought back tears, but lost.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

* * *

Glaz must have finally had a good night's sleep. The next day, after we were all up and about, he finally woke up. He struggled to sit up in their bunk bed, but he did, and I could already see his face was much less tense now that he could move without the weight and agony of the bear-trap we removed. I couldn't help but feel glad for him.

Kapkan was in the kitchen, leaning against the sink counter, drinking hot tea. The fire was barely going, just enough for us to boil snow for our drinks. It was still very cold in here.

"Jager!" I hear I.Q. call out in fear. My head snapped over to Jager in his bed, hanging his head off the side of the bed and coughing hard. It wasn't a new behavior, since he had become very sick, but what concerned me was seeing him spit out blood onto the floor. It was dark.

I ran up to his bedside and held his shoulder, "Focus on your breathing," I stay calm, "I.Q., get him a towel, or cloth, and water." She retrieves them immediately.

Bandit is stood behind me, watching in concern, quiet.

Jager is sitting on the edge of the bed, with his good hand in his dark-blonde hair, with his head practically between his knees. He's trying to focus on breathing. The pilot continues coughing violently for another moment, sounding like he would literally cough up an organ at any minute. He was struggling to breathe, catching his breath whenever he had a moment to. A few more spittles of darkened blood spill out off of his bottom lip, which I.Q. wipes away with a small kitchen towel. The blackish color of his blood makes me cold with fear. It indicates he's…

"I'm bleeding internally," Jager finishes my thought aloud, following his raspy words with another coughing fit. "That's great…" he strains to speak.

I want to tell him that's not necessarily true, but none of the other causes would be any better. It's a bad sign, regardless, and we all know it.

I.Q. is sitting on his other side, keeping the stained towel ready, and rubbing his shoulder. He's panting, seeming to be over his coughing fit for now, catching his breath and sweating.

Bandit steps in front of him, "Does it hurt inside, anywhere?" he asks, concerned.

"It hurts everywhere," Jager replied, roughly.

"Let me get you a hot drink," I offer him. He gives a small dismissive wave at me, "It hurts to drink,"

"I know, Jager. I'm sorry," I went to the kitchen to get his drink ready. Kapkan looks at me before stepping aside, subtly offering some of the hot water he's already boiled. I gave him a nod and prepared some lemon tea for my injured teammate.

Bandit took my spot next to Jager, sitting close to his side. I handed the drink to the pilot, "Try to drink some, when you can," I encourage him. He nods and holds it on his lap, hanging his head with his eyes closed in exhaustion.

I look at a smile appear on I.Q.'s face, and she gives a small chuckle, "Jager, remember a few years ago, during Christmas, when I was really sick? We didn't know each other well at the time. We only really met because we're both Blitz's friend, and we both ended up going over to his place to watch a movie,"

He was looking up at her, "I remember. I was thinking of that time, too,"

I.Q. continued, "You raided Blitz's kitchen for ingredients for soup, but he barely had anything. You gave him a hard time, telling him he needed to actually keep food in the house," I smiled and gave a small laugh, remembering that time as well. I reminded them that I lived alone, so I didn't need to store much food.

"You went out during a thunderstorm to go shopping for me, even though we kept telling you not to," Jager managed to chuckle. She went on, "When you came back, you were soaked! I felt so guilty."

Bandit interrupted, "Why wasn't I invited to this?"

I looked down at him, looking into his offended honey-brown eyes, "Because you told me you were at training. It was the day you and the other newbies had to get tased and pepper-sprayed for the first time,"

"Damn," Bandit mutter, "You guys were having a good time, and I was getting fucked. You could have gotten us together on another day," he argued. As usual, I couldn't tell if he was serious or giving me a hard time.

Jager looked at him, "Dude, we've all had to go through that class. Some of us more than once,"

"Yes," I agree with Jager, following up with my answer, "And I tried to gather us together, but as you know, we are all often busy, and it was nearly impossible to get the 3 of us together on the same day, let alone all of us. Any time I offered to hang out with you, you were busy, or I was. That was also around the time I had become promoted," I paused for a moment, mentally cringing at all the work that was essentially tossed to me at the time of promotion, "I was incredibly busy…"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just kidding. So what happened with the soup?" He looks back at I.Q.

"Well, don't interrupt me again, you jerk," she glares at him, without being serious. Bandit makes a mocking face at her.

"When you came back, Jager, you were so soaked and shivering. But you went straight to the kitchen and put the soup together. I wanted to keep assuring you I was fine, and it was unnecessary to do that for me, but I didn't want to be rude. I was flattered you were,"

"Soup always made me feel better. But maybe it's because I just love good food," he says, "But it wasn't good for you, was it?" he grinned.

She laughed, "No, it was good… We just learned the hard way that I was allergic to shellfish."

"I was really guilty when we took you to the E.R.," he laughed hoarsely, shaking his head.

"But it made me happy you did that for me, even not knowing me well at the time. I would love to return the favor right now, if I could,"

Bandit looked at Jager, "She's not really a good cook, though,"

"Bandit," I shake my head at him.

"No, no, he's right, I'm not good at it. But I still wish I could try." She's still smiling, but looks disappointed.

"It's alright. You guys being here with me is enough," Jager says, then sighs, "And as much as I hate being in bed so much, I think I need a nap…"

We leave him to rest, wishing him to feel better soon. He didn't drink his tea until it had cooled down, kind of defeating the purpose of clearing out his congestion, but he seemed to enjoy it, at least.

O

O

O

I.Q. was sitting next to Kapkan, and having a chat with him. His deep, dark green-eyes bore into her bright-blue doe eyes. She was smiling. I still can't believe she's been able to socialize with him, even though he's still visibly uptight.

I was playing cards with Bandit on the kitchen table, honestly bored out of my mind. Bandit looked the same, laying his face in on hand as he lazily moved his cards.

I hadn't been paying attention to their conversation, but I looked over to them when they went quiet, and I saw Glaz moving to get his legs off the bed. He was breathing heavily and groaned in pain, but got his feet to the floor.

"How is the food?" he looks at Kapkan and I.Q. They carefully watched him to make sure he didn't need their assistance with anything. I.Q. asked, "What do you mean?"

Glaz tried to think of how to rephrase, "What is… how much we have?"

"Oh," I.Q. said, looking at Kapkan before returning her gaze to Glaz's icy-blues, "We have some… but not a lot,"

Kapkan pulled some packaged jerky from his pocket and handed to the sniper, uttering something in Russian. I hear Bandit mutter, "Shit," as he was losing our little card game. I paid little attention to him, my ears tuned into the other 3.

I heard Glaz unwrap the jerky and eat it. After some silence, Kapkan said, "I will go hunting in morning."

"By yourself?" I.Q. asked with concern in her voice.

"Yes."

The other, heavier-accented voice spoke up, "I help you, Kapkan,"

"You can't go outside…" he tells his comrade, voice as deep and rough as always.

Glaz sighed angrily, but didn't protest. He laid back down, and the other two eventually resumed their conversations. Bandit groaned and rubbed his face after losing our card game.

O

O

O

Early in the morning, when it was still dark outside, we awoke to Kapkan cursing loudly at us in Russian. He was up beside me as I sat up in the loveseat, bundled up in my covers, "What's wrong?" I ask, giving him a small glare in the darkness.

"Where did he go?!" he shouted down at me. What? I couldn't see if Glaz was still in his bed or not, "He's missing?" I removed my covers, getting my shoes on, immediately. Bandit and I.Q. hastily came down from their top bunk, getting themselves prepared as well. Jager didn't bother; he barely even had energy to stay out of bed. But he was concerned, all the same.

"How did he get out?" Jager asked. Kapkan grunted, irritated, "I fell asleep. When I wake up, he's gone. None of you saw him?" None of us spoke up. We had all been asleep, too. He spit out another curse under his breath and headed to the door. He was already prepared to leave.

"We'll be right behind you," I shout at him as he quickly exits the door.

"You don't think Glaz tried to find help, do you?" I.Q. asked, worried, while she zipped up her coat. I have no answer for her.

We left right after Kapkan, following his deep footprints, seeing he wasn't too far off from us, but was running in the deep snow. He, too, was following a messy trail in the snow. It wasn't snowing right now, at least, but it was piercingly cold, and still rather dark. Bandit had a small flashlight, but it barely helped.

O

O

O

It was daylight now, but the sky was white and threatening to snow soon. It wasn't any warmer. Our hair and skin was frosted over. We had been searching for hours, and I was worried about our well-being.

"Let's head back," I shout to my team. Disappointed, but more than anything freezing and sore, we headed back to the cabin. Before we got too far, we heard Kapkan shouting a small distance away. Our heads collectively perked up back behind us, and we ran to his voice.

Glaz was sitting on a cleared out patch of ground, essentially in a little next he made for himself. He was fully geared up, with his cap and half-mask on, tightly bundled in his gray-and-white camo coat with his sniper rifle. He had one knee up, but his bad leg was stretched out a little. He was violently shivering. Kapkan was at his knees in front of him, yelling into his face in Russian. Glaz was looking at him, but looked too cold to muster up any solid emotion at the time. Kapkan rubbed Glaz's shoulders roughly, trying to warm him.

Struggling, Glaz slightly turned his head to the side, looking off into the deeper woods. Kapkan, and the rest of us, followed his gaze. We saw nothing.

"What are you seeing?" Kapkan worriedly asked.

"Go," was all Glaz said.

"Kapkan, stay here with Glaz. We'll go look," I firmly offered. He gave me a nod, returning his confused look back to Glaz's bright eyes.

My team and I ran into the forest a little deeper, where Glaz had indicated. "Is that it?" I hear Bandit, several yards away from me. I.Q. and I met him where he had stopped and looked down at the dead doe in the snow. The hole in her head gruesomely stained the snow underneath her.

I.Q. sighed, "He went hunting… Stubborn guy,"

I added, "Kapkan wouldn't let him, so he did it without asking him." I secretly admired Glaz's ambition, but it was also a foolish thing to do.

We quickly returned to Kapkan and Glaz, bringing the information to the hooded Spetsnaz huddling over the sniper. He was livid.

He gripped Glaz's shoulders and gave him a shake, "How you think of getting it back to cabin?!" he shouts loudly, "What were you thinking, Timur!?"

Glaz looks strangely peaceful under the pressure, looking softly into his partner's anger-filled eyes, "I not think of it. I only think of being free," he responds coolly.

"You're an idiot!" Kapkan shouts again. He looks like he wants to pummel his him, but his grip remains tight on the other's shoulders.

"Do you need help bringing him back?" I ask Kapkan, feeling like I need to return my own team back to shelter soon.

"No," he barks, not removing his eyes from Glaz, "Go."

"See you soon then," I say, leading my team back to the direction of the cabin. Bandit doesn't move.

"Bandit, let's go!" I yell at him.

He looks annoyed and a little confused, "What about the deer?"

"What about it?" I ask, impatiently.

He's looking back and forth between me and Kapkan, "We're just gonna leave it there? We need to eat!"

Our food reserves are dangerously low. But we don't have the means to carry back any raw meat, and I'm worried about us being out in this cold for too long.

"Let's figure it out when we get…" I almost say 'home', "… when we get back to shelter."

Kapkan steps away from Glaz, angrily, then looks at me, "You can carry Glaz, yes?"

I slowly nod to him, not sure what he's planning.

"Good. Send your team back. You will help me." The gruff Russian asserts.

After all this time, I still feel uncomfortable with this idea. But after a moment, I considered my options, and agreed.

I looked at Bandit and I.Q.

"Come on," I.Q. grabbed at Bandit's arm and pulled him along to follow her. He eyed me, suspiciously, but eventually trailed after I.Q.

"What is your plan?"

The hooded Russian looks off into the forest where we found the deer, "I'll go butcher deer. Your friend is right. We need the food. I have bag," he removes his heavy backpack and kneels down, going through the contents of it and selecting things to leave out to make room for meat.

I look at him a little dumb-founded, "You want me to carry Glaz while you do so?"

"Yes." He puts his backpack back on and immediately heads out into the forest, looking back at me for a moment, "Don't wait for me."

Glaz and I look at each other. His shivering his still visible when I approach him. I've carried many people on my back, but my mind and body want to reject the idea of helping the Russian. But I push my instincts aside, something I never do, and make an exception.

O

O

O

Before sundown, Kapkan returned to the cabin, blood leaking from his backpack. He dropped it in the snow just outside of the door and left it outside to stay preserved, then shut the door behind him when he came in.

I had the fire going strong today. We all really needed it.

Glaz was sitting on the floor, in front of the fire, almost sitting Indian-style except for his agonizing ankle kept away from his body. His fingerless-gloved hands lazily sat in his lap. He watched the flames dance.

Kapkan took a seat next to him and looked at him. I thought he was going to yell at him again, but he just looked. It was clear that Glaz was purposely trying not to look back. He kept his eyes on the fire. I think he expected to be scolded again, too.

My heart grew strangely warm when, instead, Kapkan wrapped an arm around Glaz's hunched shoulders.

"Don't leave me again," he said to him, rather softly.

"I hate it here," Glaz responds, "I not can wait for healing. None of us can wait here," his voice remains steady, but with increasing upset.

Kapkan removes his arm from him and says nothing. He knows Glaz is right. We all know. But none of us know what to do to escape.

Glaz's hand slips under Kapkan's and carefully entwines their fingers together. The hooded man cringes, but doesn't move.

That night, Kapkan finally slept in a bed, on the lower bunk, right next to the sniper. I don't think it was on purpose, but at some point his arm ended up around Glaz. He snored quietly throughout the night.

O

O

O


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

* * *

I couldn't tell if it was a dream or not. It must have been.

In the middle of the night, I woke up, wide awake. The fire was out, but still glowing just enough I could see the silhouettes of the Russians on their bottom bunk. I sat up and focused my eyes, rubbing them a little and yawning soundlessly. Subtle movement from the two men had caught my attention, and I think my jaw dropped when I realized, within the dark shadows, that they were kissing.

Assuring myself it was a weird dream, I shook my head, but then looked back over to them, in plain shock. Kapkan was sat up on his side over Glaz, deeply but soundlessly exchanging tongued kisses with him. Not only could I not believe what I was seeing, but I was surprised Kapkan hadn't seen I was awake and watching.

Part of me wished I could nudge I.Q. awake so she could see. I couldn't comprehend it.

I could boil it down to them being lonely and needing comfort. That's logical. But Kapkan had been so vehemently against two men and two women together, that he even argued with Glaz about it. And he was so visibly uncomfortable whenever he was close to Glaz, or was touching him. But apparently, that has changed…

Feeling awkward, I slunk back down into the loveseat, trying my best to not make a sound. I was restless for a while before finally being able to fall asleep later in the night. I still don't know if it really happened.

O

O

O

The smell of the deer meat cooking over the fire was heaven.

We had all pulled up chairs around the fire, excitedly watching Kapkan cook over the open flames. None of us cared about the lack of seasoning, we were just happy to finally eat food that wasn't in a wrapper.

Jager was sitting in the chair Kapkan had mostly used, as it was a cushioned chair he could lean back on. Glaz sat on the floor, and the rest of us sat on the stools from the kitchen table.

I would carefully observe Jager from time to time. He was still coughing up gobs of blood occasionally. His coughing fits increased to the point he was dry-heaving, and he had a terrible fever. He was so weak, he could barely hold his head up anymore, and was becoming lethargic. I would be helping him eat.

Glaz and Jager got the first of the cooked meat, while the rest of us waited for more to cook. I moved my stool over to Jager to help him eat. The sniper was devouring his food now that he was feeling much better.

Once we all finished eating, we kind of just, sat around. I noticed, since we woke up this morning, that I.Q. was very silent. It doesn't mean anything, but I sat by her on the loveseat to check on her.

"Are you alright?"

She gives a small smile, but doesn't look at me. Something is wrong.

"I'm fine." She says softly, "I mean… as fine as I can be, stuck here with all of you," she gently laughs.

I joke back, "It would be much better if we had our own rooms, at least."

"That's for sure," she replies, smiling. But her smile weakens after a moment.

I think to ask her 'what's wrong?', but there's nothing that's been going right. It would be inappropriate to ask. I just look into her eyes. Eventually, she opens up,

"I'm just sad, you know… I want to just, leave, go for it," I sympathize with her, "Me too. We'll get out of here."

"I know you're strong, Blitz. And you're good with people. That's why you're our leader. But you can't make those kinds of promises," she looks at me with an offended, saddened look.

"It's not a promise. It's what we're going to do."

"We need to leave now, Blitz," she says in a firm tone.

I lower my voice, "But Jager isn't…"

"Blitz," she softly cries to me, "Look at him…"

My eyes look upon him in his bed. He's curled up on his good arm, wheezing in his sleep. There are little, black blood stains on his blankets and pillow. He was losing weight quick, having rejected everything he's tried to eat recently. I felt my throat tighten.

"Should we stay here and let him die here? Or should we go for help? Blitz, no matter what we do, he's…" she couldn't finish her words. She didn't need to.

Bandit quietly stepped up to us and sat on the arm of the loveseat next to I.Q., looking down at us with his hands in his pockets, "We need to get out of here, Blitz." His voice is unusually gentle.

I swallow hard. I know what they're saying is right.

"I don't want Jager coming with us," I begin. I look at Bandit and Monika, a serious look in my eyes now, "He needs to stay here. We'll go search for help."

They looked at me like I was crazy.

"You're gonna leave him to die here with the Russians?" Bandit says, scornfully.

"Don't talk to me in that tone, Bandit. You know my intentions are for the best. I trust they won't hurt him. They have nothing to gain from doing so." Bandit goes quiet.

I struggle to issue my orders.

"Alright. Tomorrow we'll leave. We'll explain to Jager in the morning." I tell them, making my voice sound more confident than I actually am.

They look at me, clearly unhappy, as I am. But also full of worry, and eagerness. They don't object. We head to bed without saying anymore about it.

O

O

O

Our plans were tossed aside that morning.

I.Q. was shouting at Jager, desperately. He laid in his bed, on his back, barely able to move or breathe. He was alive, but unresponsive. I.Q. shook him gently by his shoulders. His head lulled to the side, away from her.

I was right there beside her at his side, trying to get him to perk up and respond to us. Bandit was standing behind us, frozen in silence.

"Say something!" I.Q. sadly demanded. But she got nothing from him. We went quiet, but were observing him closely. She was crying. I clenched my jaw, frustrated, as my good friend and teammate lay lifeless under my hands. I begged in my head for his pulse to pick up strength again, not being able to fathom losing the kindest man I know.

I sat beside him, my hand shakily touching his neck, feeling his weakened pulse. His wheezing was unbearable. I.Q. held onto his hand, tight, still trying to nudge him back to life.

"Come on! Wake up! Do you hear us?" Bandit shouts, "Marius!" He sounds angry, but he's frightened. He takes his frustration out by giving the whole bed frame a hard shake. He steps back and looks down at Jager, pausing to see if it stirred any life back into him. It didn't.

I.Q. looked at me with tears continuing to stream down her reddened cheeks. I looked down, away from her, afraid that the feel of his pulse might be getting softer. But I hoped it was my imagination.

We were going to leave this morning to find help for him, but we were too late.

We look down as he inhales, then exhales long and rattling. It's a disgusting, drawn-out sound that will haunt me forever. I'm frozen cold. The silence is deafening as we sit and wait for him to take another breath.

But he doesn't.

I try to fend off my shock, wrapping my arms around I.Q. She's crying loudly. My embrace is tight.

I held onto her as I dragged her away from him, and hugged her as we sat on the loveseat. She angrily sobbed into my chest, wanting me to let her go back over to him, but I just couldn't let her.

Bandit was sitting on the bed next to the pilot, just looking at his face with no emotion on his own. Even his golden-brown eyes were dry of tears. They would stay that way for a while. For him, tragedy takes a couple of days to sink in. He'll be in shock, distant from everyone, until he breaks down at random.

I firmly rub circles over I.Q.'s back, and suddenly remember the other two in the cabin. I look at them, fighting back my own tears. They were quietly watching the whole thing unfold, looking sympathetic.

Jager was so excited to become a father. My heart aches and my chest tightens, painfully.

He was my close friend. He grew into such a talented and admirable man and partner. I pressed my face against I.Q.'s hair and cease rubbing her back.

His baby would be born in only a couple of weeks.

He's not coming back to his fiancée, or his unborn child he talked so proudly of. If I had taken the initiative to leave this place earlier, he may have been able to go home. I ruined it. I let his life, and his family's life, slip through my fingers. The regret eats me alive as I sob heavily into I.Q.'s shoulder, completely losing myself in my sadness and devastation.

O

O

O


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

* * *

I barely got sleep that night. I've lost teammates before. I've lost loved ones before. But this is the first time I felt like I was the cause of death.

I keep going over our recent history together, even before we boarded the plane. There were so many things that could have been done differently. There were so many other options. There were many ways we possibly could have avoided all of this.

Now that it's morning, after I had gotten some sleep, I feel slightly better having rested a little. My heart is still heavy. We had taken his body, wrapped in blankets, out into the snow. It was difficult for us that we couldn't even give him a proper burial, but it helped giving our final thoughts and goodbyes to him. I kept his engagement ring, since there wasn't much else with any sentimental value I could have brought back to his fiancé. I wasn't sure if it was the correct choice, even though IQ assured me it would be okay. But it's in one of my pockets, close to my chest, where it will be safely stored.

Even though I've long become sore from sleeping uncomfortably on the loveseat, I didn't even consider it an option to use Jager's empty bed. None of us could use his empty bed. It felt… wrong.

"Elias…?"

I look up at IQ as we sit next to each other at the kitchen table. I don't respond.

She puts her hand on my back, gently. Her face expresses worry and deep sadness, but she says nothing.

"There's nothing we could have done," Bandit breaks the silence in his deep, strong voice. We look at him. He looks more angry than sad.

"I know," I assure him.

He scoffs, "I know you. You think it's somehow your fault." His golden-brown eyes are glaring at me, daring me to argue about it.

"Yes, you are right. But right now, I need to stay focused on you two,"

"Stop it," Bandit growls.

I look at him with confusion, "Stop what?"

"Being squad leader doesn't mean you can't have feelings,"

"I do have feelings, Bandit. I just can't allow them to bring me down," I respond.

He looks at me for a silent moment.

"Let it bring you down. Marius is dead. Let it sink in," his voice is dark and heavy.

"Dominic!" IQ snaps at him.

He looks at her. "I'm motivating him," he says calmly.

I swallow hard. Bandit is really pissing me off right now, but I know what he is trying to do.

"You are really an idiot," I tell him, annoyed.

"But you know I'm right. Anger motivates." He gives me a small grin.

I give a smile back to him, "You are insane. I don't know why I keep you around."

He shrugs and takes a drink of coffee, "I keep you on your toes."

IQ looks between us, not understanding what is going on. But she realizes we have an understanding, and a strange friendship, and doesn't bother asking.

O

O

O

It's been snowing heavily since the early morning when we awoke. It's in the afternoon now, and it hasn't lightened up at all. My mind is constantly filled with only pessimistic thoughts; worries and fear. It's tiring me out.

I try to think of what I'm grateful for as of right now. IQ had told me before that there's always something to be grateful for.

She hasn't been as sick as she was before. We all are sniffling and coughing but thankfully, for now, we haven't gotten as far in as Marius…

What else could I be grateful for? Glaz and Kapkan, while quiet, have been much more in-touch with us. Sometimes it feels like we are all roommates instead of enemies that are caged up together. They have been respectful about our situation of losing our good friend, so they haven't said anything to us. I suppose, for all of us, it's hard to think of anything to say.

Bandit is very antsy today. He's pacing a lot, and whenever he tries to stay seated or lying down, he's fidgety and restless. I sympathize.

IQ has been commendably calm, but I've seen her silently cry to herself a few times. I'm always there for her, giving her a tight hug and a shoulder to cry on.

I haven't seen any more… romance between the Russians, since the other night. And I'm still not completely convinced it wasn't a dream. I wouldn't have an issue with it, if it was indeed real. I just can't comprehend the grumpy, homophobic Russian being physical like that with his own male partner.

But he wasn't pulling away whenever Glaz snuck his hand into his. In fact, I've seen him return the grip. I guess that doesn't really mean much, though.

Right now, I'm sitting near the front of the fire, on the floor, that is still covered with old, crusty blood stains from Glaz's ankle. I looked over to the Glaz, who was sitting on Kapkan's chair, while Kapkan was in the kitchen.

"How is your leg?" I ask, curious.

Glaz lifts his bright, icy-blue eyes to meet my hazel ones. He scratches at his bandages, "Miserable,"

His voice was gruff and annoyed. I can't imagine his wounds are healing well when they have to get wrapped in the same, old, used-up bandages. That's why he's scratching it, I'm assuming.

"Not comfortable… smells bad… infected and very in pain," he continues. His broken English has become charming to me.

He stands up and hobbles carefully over to me, barely putting any weight on his sore leg. Thankfully, I'm not far from him. When he's close enough he slowly sits next to me, practically falling, planting his butt on the floor with a grunt. He gingerly stretches his crippled leg out from him.

"Is ok I can sit here?" he asks me. I smile and nod, "Of course."

We didn't talk, just mutually enjoyed watching the fire flicker upwards, feeling its warmth. My concentration breaks when another body sits itself on my other side. To my surprise, it's Kapkan. The three of us sit quietly for quite a long time, silent. I'm not even aware of what my teammates are doing.

Eventually, our peace was shattered by the sounds of Bandit screaming curses, both in English and German.

The three of us whipped around to see him in the kitchen, holding onto a chair, tightly. IQ was standing up, keeping a distance from him, looking uneasy.

"Why can't we fucking get out of here?!" Bandit shouts.

I get up quickly, and head over to him, "Bandit!"

He shoots a crazed look at me, furious, "I'm done with this! I'd rather freeze to death trying to get out of this place than stay here another god damned day!"

Before I can say anything, he picks up the chair, then smashes it against the kitchen counter. He tosses the broken stool to the side.

"Bandit, stop!" I command him. I get close, hoping I can get a hold of him, but he shouts at me to back off. I stopped in my tracks at his request, not wanting to upset him more.

He huffs for a minute before he reaches for an axe that had been leaning head-down against the kitchen wall. It makes me nervous as he takes a hold of it.

"Don't do anything stupid, Bandit…" I plead, keeping my voice calm.

"Staying here is stupid. It's the worst thing we could have done, staying here! We need to leave, Elias!" He shouts at me, desperately.

"We will," I begin, but I'm quickly interrupted by the loud sound of the axe hitting against the wooden floor.

Bandit yanks it back out of the split wood, yelling, "You keep saying that," he points at me, "But we're still here!"

IQ yells at him, "The snow is confining us here!"

He just growls loudly in response before hitting the floor again with the heavy axe, right next to the last chop.

He's lost his mind, hasn't he? Is he going to hurt someone with that axe? Is he going to leave here, willing to die out in the snowstorm? Bandit, please…

"The snow is pissing me off!" he shouts, followed by a third and final hard chop to the wooden floor.

There was a collective silence when his axe broke through the wood and sounded like it hit something made of glass. All eyes, including Bandit's, were staring at the mysterious small hole in the floor, wondering what possibly could have been under the floor boards.

"What is it?" IQ finally asked, running up to Bandit's side to take a look into the broken wood.

He gently guides her back behind him with his hand, "Move,"

Lifting the axe again, he started purposely chopping at the wood, until he clearly saw what was hiding underneath. He got on his knees, looking closely into the open floor, reaching his hand down into it. After a suspenseful moment, he started laughing, rather maniacally.

IQ joined his side. Once she realized what he was looking at, her face lit up with excitement.

"Booze!" Bandit shouted happily, lifting a large bottle of wine out of the floor. It was coated thickly with dust.

From my side, Kapkan headed to Bandit quickly. He was also laughing.

"Finally! Some good luck!" the large Russian exclaims joyfully.

I look to my other side at Glaz, who is standing and balancing carefully on his foot next to me. He's grinning and turns to look at me, "You drink, comrade?"

I'm taken aback, being called his comrade…

"Not really," I admit.

He chuckles, "I'm not drink either, but tonight is exception."

They pull more dusty bottles out from the floor. I smile big and genuine, happy to see them so joyful. Of course, I'll be joining the party with them. I'm not going to be a party pooper.

O

O

O

We're all sitting on the floor in front of the warm fire, in somewhat of a circle, chatting with each other. Glaz and Kapkan are sitting side-by-side.

It's dark outside. I haven't paid any attention to the weather, not knowing, or caring, if it's still snowing or not.

We're all severely drunk on the perfectly-aged wine, and we're all down to our first layer of shirts. IQ's in a black tank-top, Bandit's in a black under-armor t-shirt, the Russians are wearing black t-shirts, and I'm in my white under-armor t-shirt. We've all openly debated removing our pants, but it hasn't come to that yet.

There are more than enough bottles for each of us to drink from our own. No glasses required. We have no cares in the world, and it's exactly what we needed.

Kapkan laughed, his voice was still rough and gravelly, but his demeanor was easy-going now instead of his usual air of intense irritation.

"My gun is not even loaded," Kapkan admits, amused.

"Neither is mine!" Bandit laughs in response. The two of them share a laugh with each other over it.

"If I had bullets, I would have fired in heartbeat," Kapkan continues.

Bandit scoffs, "You wouldn't have gotten far. Blitz and Jager have... had... loaded guns, and IQ had one bullet left." He takes another swig of wine, giving a satisfied sigh afterwards.

"Mm," the loud Russian takes another drink as well before replying, "I could hear you all at door. My gun was ready."

"We could all be dead now," Glaz simply states. He doesn't act or sound much different drunk.

"But we are here, able to drink and bond," I add, smiling, and feeling warm.

"If we make it out of here alive, we will have a great story to tell," IQ giggles. She's going back and forth between water and wine now, having the forethought of avoiding a hangover. I take note and decided I will switch over to water soon.

Kapkan gestures to IQ, looking at her with curiosity on his face, "IQ, you are really lesbian?"

If she were sober I would have expected she'd get annoyed and defensive at the supposedly homophobic Spetsnaz, but she's smiling as she answers, "Yes. I've been with my girlfriend for about 5 years."

"In Russia, it is not so common to be gay or lesbian openly. Is common in Germany?" Kapkan continues.

IQ's face is flushed red from the wine.

"Um, I guess so. I don't hide my sexuality, and I don't have to be in fear over it."

"How you can love another girl? The sex does not work."

I'm watching the two, back and forth as they speak, utterly amused. Bandit is doing the same. Glaz is just watching Kapkan, quietly.

The petite blonde replies, "It's not about sex. I love her for who she is, her personality is beautiful. But, the sex is great, too," she laughs, "Do I really have to explain to you how it works?"

Bandit immediately muttered, "Yes," while Kapkan shook his head dismissively.

"No, I just don't understand, without dick, how woman can enjoy sex."

I think of how he had lovingly made-out with Glaz the other night. I want to bring it up, but I won't be that kind of person.

IQ looks at him, her blue eyes looking mischievous, "Oh, we can enjoy sex very much without dicks, Kapkan."

"It is unnatural. It makes no sense."

"Yeah, tell us how it works, Monika," Bandit grins at her before getting an actual punch to his arm.

"Fuck, you really hit me," he hisses, rubbing his new bruise.

"Kapkan is trying to learn about it! You're just an irritating pervert. Stop it or I'll punch you somewhere else next time," she threatens.

"Teach him, then!" Bandit snaps back, stubbornly.

IQ heavily sighs, "If we weren't in the situation we're in, I would make you stay outside while I talked to him,"

"Lucky me," he replies drly.

"I don't need details. I just don't understand," Kapkan says, sounding a little disgusted.

Glaz enters the conversation randomly, his voice as deep and calm as ever, still looking at his partner, "How you would feel from sex without pussy?"

We're all looking at Glaz after he asks his odd question. Kapkan is especially taken back.

"I could not enjoy it, comrade. They are meant to be together," he laughs, not realizing what Glaz is subtly implying.

"You never use dick in other ways?" the sniper asks.

"What are you saying?" Kapkan asks, confused.

There's a silence. We wait for the blue-eyed Russian to reply.

"Maxim, you never having blowjob? Or anal sex?" He looks surprised at him.

Kapkan grunts, "No. I don't need it."

I wasn't entirely sure, maybe it was the alcohol, but Glaz's face was blushing pretty bright.

"So," Bandit started slowly, "IQ, you were gonna explain to Kapkan…"

I stop him, "You know she was threatening to punch you in your dick, right?"

"Don't care, I need to hear this," he replies hastily.

I laugh. He and I are now looking at IQ.

"Fine, Bandit, you stubborn jerk," she chuckles, "I don't even know where to star… t….."

Her words trail off as her eyes are locked onto something, her expression shocked. She covers her mouth.

"Holy shit," Bandit nearly shouts.

My own jaw drops as I watch Glaz and Kapkan gently kissing each other, as if there was no one else in the room with them. Even as we fell into an awkward silence they continued. Kapkan even put his hand onto Glaz's neck, keeping his friend's mouth firmly against his own.

My team and I exchanged dumbfounded glances. None of us knew if we should interrupt, look away, or what.

Then, with a pained moan from his leg having to reposition, Glaz is pinned onto the wooden floor by his larger counterpart. Instantly they locked into a gentle French kiss with Kapkan bent over him with his finger's tangled into Glaz's, keeping his hands pinned down that way.

I look away and meet eyes with IQ, who is also looking at me. Both of us feel like it's not right to watch.

Meanwhile, Bandit with his big mouth speaks up and says, "Remember when I asked if the Spetsnaz were gay?"

Kapkan, briefly breaking his kiss with the other man, looks over to send Bandit his typical killer Kapkan glare.

Bandit leans back, looking back at him, "You can't get mad at me about that now, 'comrade'."

Despite whatever deal he's got going on with Glaz, Kapkan still seems very triggered by being referred to as "gay". It's a bit of a puzzle, but it's none of my business, so I don't question it.

Kapkan kisses Glaz for one more moment longer before standing up with shaky knees. He nearly falls before he stands up straight, still heavily drunk. Glaz stays on his back, looking up at Kapkan with a content expression. The standing Russian drunkly stumbles his way into the kitchen.

The rest of us take a collective breath after the awkward situation passes.

"His swing-set was built too close to his house as a child, huh?" Bandit jokes, giving a weak, drunken laugh.

"I often think that's what happened to you," I joke to him in a serious tone.

"No, no. I used to experiment with electricity and explosives as a child. That's what happened to me, dick," he casually answers back.

"You still do!" IQ shouts at him, laughing afterwards.

"Of course, it's fun." He responds.

Glaz struggles to sit back up, both from being drunk and from his ankle throbbing in pain. Even the alcohol isn't numbing it away. He just collapses back down to his back and tries to get comfortable lying there.

Kapkan returns with the last granola bar. It reminds me of how ddangerously low on food we are. We may even be out completely now. Even though we have deer meat outside the door, it's all frozen solid together, and we're on our last small stack of wood. It will all be used up by the next day. Then we will really be screwed.

I hear Kapkan take a bite of the crunchy granola. While all of us are quiet, I keep expecting Bandit to bug IQ about telling them all about her sex life. I hear his voice suddenly, but he doesn't ask what I expected.

With a softness in his voice, looking at Kapkan, he asks, "Did you guys lose anyone? Since you crashed here?"

I hadn't thought of that. My eyes watch for Kapkan to respond.

"Yes."

He finishes the granola bar and tosses the noisy wrapper off to the side somewhere.

He continues, "Our group leader, Tachanka, died in crash instantly. He was good man. He was cheerful always, but was toughest of all of us." Glaz nodded, his eyes looking up at the ceiling as he listened. His hands were behind his head to cushion his head from the hard wood floor.

Kapkan was now looking into the fire, "We lost the other after crash. Fuze was pulled apart…"

He and Glaz cringed. I wasn't sure exactly what he meant by 'pulled apart', until he went into detail.

"His lower body was under plane… separated from his upper body. He was alive this way," he said, grimly, "I put him out of his misery."

I was horrified. They've experienced their own tragedies, things I never would have thought about. To put a bullet into your teammate's – into your friend's – head… seeing him torn apart… After all these years, I've never had to do anything like that. I hope I never have to.

We stayed quiet again. The fire was crackling loudly. I was getting nauseated, but tried to repress it.

"It's so strange, that we all ended up here together…" IQ gently breaks the silence.

"We've all helped each other out, too, haven't we?" She asks, amazed.

"Without you, Glaz maybe not have survived," Kapkan says, looking down at his friend on the floor beside him. Glaz has his eyes closed.

"You two brought us a deer to eat." I added.

"You also roughed up Bandit pretty good…" IQ said, laughing a little, "I've always wanted to do that, myself,"

Kapkan grinned.

Bandit looked at her, offended, "You're my teammate, Monika. You shouldn't enjoy seeing me harmed."

She giggles a little, "I know, I'm sorry, but you deserved it."

I nod and laugh with her.

Glaz grunts, forcing himself to sit up finally.

"Maxim, please you can do bandages?" He asks the bigger Russian as he scratches hard at his filthy bandages.

After getting a hasty nod from Kapkan, Glaz lays back on his arms so he can watch. He's still really weak, too weak to stand for too long, and too weak and pained to care for his own wounded ankle.

Once Kapkan has it unwrapped, after the sniper hissed in pain during it, the smell hit us like a brick.

"My god…" Bandit mumbled. He covered his nose, and I soon followed.

Kapkan sat Indian-style with Glaz's foot on his lap. His dark-green eyes were staring into Glaz's infected wounds with alarm. Glaz looked at it with disgust and nervousness.

I saw tiny little wiggling things fall off the bandages as Kapkan dropped them from his hand onto the floor beside him.

IQ gasped, "Here!" and quickly went to kneel at Kapkan's side with her unfinished bottle of wine. She poured it straight into the open wounds. She even poured liberal amounts into her hand to make sure she could get the alcohol all around inside the wounds in the areas she couldn't reach with the bottle. When she'd pull her hand away, she'd shake maggots onto the floor, joining the ones she flooded out.

Glaz was flat on his back again, covering his face with both hands, shaking a little bit and strongly tensing up in agony. Kapkan had shuffled over to sit at his friend's side and rubbed his hair, watching IQ work on his butchered ankle. It was leaking blood again and pus was seeping out with stray maggots clinging around it.

An idea hit me.

I got up and swiftly went to the kitchen, stumbling along the way in my drunken body, but hurrying nonetheless.

I returned with the large cooking pot we had been using for water and venison. It was filled with water. I put it straight into the fire and sat back to wait for the water to boil.

"I don't know if it will work, but…"

"That's a great idea!" IQ said.

I gathered up the dirty bandages once the water started boiling, and tossed them into the pot.

After letting it cook for a minute, I removed the pot and carefully took it to the kitchen to set it down. I pulled out my combat knife in a moment of improvisation, and began stirring the flowing, red-stained ribbons. The water was discolored and still boiling as I did so.

"It will be good to give it fresh air, Timur," Kapkan assured his friend as he grabbed his shoulder. Glaz still covered his face, quietly saying, "Это действительно больно… / it really hurts…"

"Это будет хорошо / it will be good," Kapkan sympathetically responded, clearly upset seeing his friend miserable.

"Glaz, can you move your toes?" IQ asks, looking at his foot.

He removes his hands from his face and looks at her, "I try, but hurts so bad to do it,"

She watched, looking worried. His toes wouldn't move, even though she could see some of the muscles and tendons in his foot twitch in attempt, but it caused him intense pain.

"What's going on, IQ?" Bandit's next to them now, looking on at the ongoing situation.

She looks back into Glaz's eyes, "It's just… I think your infection may be really deep…"

"But he is not sick," Kapkan looks at her, a little defensive.

"Right," she starts, "Not yet. But it's damaging his muscles…"

She bites her lip, looking back down at the injury, afraid to say anything further.

Glaz watches her, "My leg not can be saved?"

She frowns, "It's looking really bad, Glaz… I'm sorry. I don't know, but I know it is very bad you cannot move your toes despite your efforts. Even in pain, your attempts should register."

Glaz lays his head back against the floor under him again. He closes his eyes for a moment, taking in a few breaths, before looking back at her.

"Not be sad, IQ," he says, deep and gentle, "I am glad to experience kindness from you and friends. I may already be dead from beginning, but it is not so…"

IQ's gentle blue-eyes shimmer with tears. She smiles at him.

"I'm glad, too. My name is Monika."

Glaz nods and responds, "Timur."

We've all heard each other's real names, but this is the first time they've introduced themselves by their actual names officially.

This is such a bizarre adventure.

I've removed the long bandages from the hot water and had them hanging to dry from a couple of nails that were on the wall in the kitchen, where we had found the pot hanging.

"I'm Dominic," Bandit joins in, "And Elias," he gestures to me.

"Maxim…" Kapkan shyly adds.

Glaz looks back at IQ, "Monika… if we survive, I can communicating with you after?"

"Oh…" IQ asks, sounding surprised in a flattered way, "Of course!"

He forced himself to sit up straight enough to wrap an arm around her. She immediately hugged him tight around his neck and laid her head against his. Bandit and Kapkan looked at each other, unsure of what to think.

"I need sleep…" Glaz spoke, still in IQ's embrace. She let him go after a brief moment longer.

"Okay. Hopefully your bandages will be dried tomorrow. We'll clean it again in the morning," she smiled and squeezed his shoulders before standing up and looking at me.

"Elias, we should get some sleep, too." Bandit yawned loudly, wobbling up as he stood and headed to his bed.

"Yes, I will soon," I tell her, dreading sleeping on that damn small loveseat again.

"Comrade,"

I look at Kapkan, "Huh?"

He waves me towards his bed, "You can sleep on the top,"

They hadn't once used their top bunk. I was genuinely flattered, feeling like I should politely decline, but I didn't. It really didn't sound like he was asking, anyway…

"Thank you, Maxim," I quickly respond.

After he helped Glaz onto the bottom mattress, he climbed over him so he could sleep between the wall and the blue-eyed man. Glaz was on his back with his eyes closed, while Kapkan pulled the covers over the both of them. He looked down at the sniper before planting a soft kiss on his lips, to which Glaz responded with a small lick to his mouth. It lead to one more quiet make-out session before Kapkan laid down and shifted under the covers close to Glaz, trying to keep them warm. His arm wrapped over Glaz's chest, which brought a small, tired smile to the injured man's face. I couldn't help but smile, too.

I stayed in the kitchen for a while, standing back against the counter, watching everyone while I stayed occupied with my thoughts and worries again. IQ was now asleep in our top bunk-bed, silent and still, curled up tight and warm against Bandit's back. Jager's bed remains untouched.

With a heavy sigh, I tried in vain to clear my mind. I don't know how much longer we have to be here. We will perish if we stay. I look up at the fading fire, reminded again that we only have enough wood to last until who-knows-when tomorrow. We are out of food, besides a couple of untouched bottles of wine. Ugh, the thought of it makes me sick now…

Looking at the two Russians warmly cuddled up together, I worry that I might disturb them if I climb into bed now.

Then I woke up in their top bunk when we were rudely awaken by people shouting from inside the cabin at us.

O

O

O

 **I'm working on my cliffhangers. How's this?**

 **See you soon.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Final chapter. Enjoy.**

 **Chapter 7**

* * *

For the first time in forever, I had a pleasant dream. That I remember, at least.

I dreamt I was eating blueberry pie. It was homemade. I don't know who made it, but it was the best I've ever had. It was a full pie right in front of me, all for me to eat. It had cooled down but was still perfectly warm on the inside, and the top was liberally drizzled with a thin, white frosting of some kind.

Blueberry was my favorite pie when I was younger. I haven't had any since I was a teenager.

The dream was so vivid I could remember the taste clearly. I could smell it right under my nose. I was smiling, and I didn't have a care in the world. Everything was well.

But it came to an abrupt end when I was awakened by two unfamiliar voices shouting at us from inside the cabin. And they had guns.

I awoke in the top bunk above the Russians, now sitting up, startled. On the other side of the room, IQ and Bandit, sharing the top of the other bunk-bed, had surprised expressions. They had their hands up.

There were two unknown women in the cabin, covered in snow. They both wore white and gray camouflage gear, similar to the Russians, but with a little more white overall. They were properly accessorized for the brutal winter weather.

The woman aiming her pistol at my teammates had her back to me, and a scarf around her neck and face. She had a larger gun of some kind strapped around her back. I'm glad she wasn't using that one.

The other woman was facing me and the Russians, with some kind of SMG pointed at the Spetsnaz below me. She kept glancing up at me to make sure I wouldn't try anything.

I couldn't understand what they were saying to us. But I recognized they had been shouting at us in Polish. It was confirmed by the white-and-red flag that was sewn onto the chest of their coats. I noticed the odd, almost fish-hook looking symbol patched onto their arms; they were part of GROM. They're Polish special ops.

"We don't understand you. English, please," I calmly informed them. My hands were up now.

The woman below me had goggles on, and under her knitted cap I could see a little bit of her dark hair that almost reached her shoulders. She still had her SMG firmly aimed at the two beneath me. She didn't hesitate to respond to me, this time in English.

"Keep your hands up!" she gestured to me, "Who are you guys and why are you here?" She sounded fairly young, but definitely had an assertive tone.

My heart was pounding. It wasn't just the adrenaline of waking up to a stranger pointing a gun at me. It was the fact that we were found. They had come from somewhere. They can rescue us. I know they are not here to kill us.

I almost wanted to laugh in relief, and blurt out our entire story to her.

But, keeping my cool, I replied, "I'm Elias, part ofGSG9. The two over there are my teammates Monika and Dominic. We are from Germany and we crashed here trying to fly back to our country. This was the only shelter we could find, and we couldn't leave…"

"Okay. Who are you, then?" Her focus went back to Glaz and Kapkan.

"I am Maxim. This is Timur, my teammate. We are from Russia,"

"Spetsnaz?" She interrupted.

"Yes," Kapkan replied.

"How did you get here?"

"…we also crashed not far from here, flying to Russia."

"Are you kidding?" The woman asked, sounding astonished. Her posture relaxed and she lowered her gun. She slipped her goggles up to lie over her hat. Her green eyes were bright with surprise.

"I am not kidding," I hear Kapkan say in his usual gruff tone.

"Am I hearing that right?" The other GROM woman started. Her voice sounded a little deeper, more professional, but with the same soft Polish accent as the other girl.

"Russians and Germans have been living together in our cabin?" She continued, an amused tone to her speech, "That's rough."

It's no secret that Germany and Russia are at war with each other. I almost forgot how strange it was for us to have been cooped up in here with the two Russians…

"How did you guys stay here without killing one another?" The younger girl asked, sounding amused but even more curious.

I sighed and smiled, "We nearly did. But it's a long story…"

Both girls were looking around at all the dried-up blood all over the floor. The large bear-trap that had troubled Glaz was safely tucked away in a corner, which they also took a glance at.

"It looks like someone was murdered here…" The younger woman stated, sounding a little suspicious.

"That is from mine," Glaz responded to her. She took notice of his butchered-up ankle he lifted the covers up for her to see.

"I see."

I am grateful, so grateful, that we've ended up in Poland. They are one of the few neutral countries in the middle of the war. There's no reason for them to kill or imprison any of us in this situation.

Both women now had their guns put away. The woman with the scarf had pulled it down, revealing rouge-painted lips, and had her own goggles around her neck. She had a beauty mark on her face. She was looking at me as she spoke.

"I'm sure you know it now, but you're in Poland. We're with GROM. My name is Zofia. This is my little sister, Elzbieta,"

"Ela. It's Ela." The younger girl corrected her with an annoyed look. Zofia gave a small shrug.

IQ asked, "This cabin belongs to you two?"

The two women turned to IQ. Ela replied, "Yes, technically… But we haven't actually been here for a few years now,"

Good thing they had stored sealed food here. It was all expired, but edible at least.

"We only came here today because we're looking for someone who's gone missing. The cabin is a little further out than the search perimeter, but we figured we'd come check it out just in case. You guys are lucky," Zofia gave a smirk.

We sat there for a moment, observing each other, while Ela reported their findings to someone on the other end of her radio headset. I was feeling extremely restless, ready to leave right this second. My patience was long gone.

"Alright guys," Ela smiled, "Get ready and we'll take you to town. We can probably get you some food and a bath."

God… how I missed taking showers… I have taken them for granted until this happened to us.

My teammates and I were on our side of the cabin very quickly, getting ready to head out. We didn't have to prepare much. We just had to put our boots on. I triple-checked my chest pocket to make sure Marius' engagement ring was still in there. It was there, safe and sound. Once we were in town, I would talk to them about recovering his body and finding a way to return him to Germany for a proper burial, and for the sake of closure for his fiancée.

I watched across the room. Ela knelt down in front of Glaz while Kapkan sat beside him.

"I not can walk," the sniper said to her, sounding and looking completely exhausted. He was so weak by now, I doubted he could even sit up for very long.

"This is really bad," Ela examines his mutilated, infected ankle. It hasn't been re-wrapped yet, and it smells rotted. I look at the stained bandages I hung up on the kitchen wall, thankful they won't have to be used ever again.

"I will carry him," Kapkan says to them.

"It's a long walk back, my friend," Zofia replies, standing behind Ela and looking down at Glaz's wounds.

"We will make it. I am not worried."

"We'll bandage it real quick before we head out. Once we get to town, we'll have a doctor see you," Ela said to Glaz before pulling her back-pack down to her side. She rummaged through it, pulling out a small first-aid kit and getting to work on Glaz immediately.

"What about your missing person?" Bandit asked, sitting next to me on the loveseat.

Ela answered him over her shoulder, "There's still a search team looking. Right now, we've been given the orders to make you all our first priority until we get you home safely."

"Thank god!" Bandit gave a laugh, sitting back against the seat. I smiled and ran my fingers through my dirty hair. IQ had such a happy look on her face as well. We're all so excited to leave this place for good. The joyful energy is in the air.

Once Ela had finished bandaging Glaz, she stepped back to let Kapkan crouch in front of him, with his back to him, so Glaz could ride piggy-back.

It hadn't meant anything to me at first, how protective Kapkan was about his friend and teammate. But now, it makes me smile. I have a lot of respect for him.

With a few pained noises, Glaz was secured to Kapkan's back. His arms were around his neck, and his legs were secured by Kapkan's arms. They were also ready to go, being back in their winter coats and accessories.

"Hmm…" Zofia was standing in the kitchen, "I see you guys found our father's old stash of wine… and ruined the floor. In fact, you guys really ruined our cabin."

Bandit just cleared his throat.

"Let's go. We need to get you guys out of here, especially Timur with his ankle," Ela commanded with concern in her voice.

With that, we finally left the cabin, for good. Some of us left with the happiest of tears leaking from our eyes.

O

O

O

The Polish police were kind enough to give our teams each a room at a local hotel. After getting looked over by nurses, we were driven to our hotels where we showered and ate. Thankfully, none of us were in seriously bad shape, besides being slightly starved and having a cold. Except for Glaz.

We all sat in the waiting room of the hospital while Glaz was in surgery. He had been taken to the ER as soon as we got into the small city, where he had eventually passed out. It's been a few hours now, and we're all hoping he'll be out of surgery soon. Kapkan, of course, was greatly troubled and very anxious as he waited.

But soon enough, the lead surgeon came up to us and told us the surgery went well, and that Timur is recovering just fine. They were even able to save his foot! He had become sick from his infection, but it was treated in time that it would not be a serious issue. The surgeon told us he had needed a lot of blood, but he will feel much better after a lot of rest.

The news was mostly good, but there were some things that couldn't be fixed. Glaz has major nerve damage in and all around his ankle, and from now on will always feel a medium to severe level of pain for many years, or possibly the rest of his life. Because of these things, even with regular physical therapy, he will never walk without limping.

Kapkan was pleased to hear the news in general. I'm sure he was thinking of the worst kinds of news that he could get about his comrade, and the worst didn't happen. The surgeon told him to come back and visit him now, if he'd like. My team and I decided not to go in to visit with Glaz, even though we had become concerned about him, too. It just didn't feel like our place to do so. Kapkan left for the recovery room hastily.

Shortly after Kapkan left for the recovery room, Ela found us in the waiting room. She was in her GROM uniform still, with her goggles around her neck.

"Are you guys doing okay?" She asks, hands at her sides, head tilted slightly.

"We are fine. Thank you, for everything." I answer from my heart with a warm smile.

She smiled and put a hand on her hip, "Good. I talked to your superiors this morning, and we've been able to get you guys train tickets back home,"

She handed the tickets over to us. I couldn't even believe we were this close to going back to Germany.

I grabbed them and handed one each to Bandit and IQ. We thanked her in unison.

"Did you become friends with them? The Russians, I mean," she asked, her arms crossing over her chest.

My team and I exchanged looks with each other. Did we?

"I think we did…" IQ finally answered, still sounding unsure. I remembered Glaz asking her if she'd keep in touch with him if we ever escaped the cabin.

"They definitely changed our lives," Bandit added, his arms crossed.

"That's a pretty amazing story. I hope for the best, for all of you," Ela smiled. She turned her head to Zofia who had come up to stand at her side. She had sunglasses on.

Zofia looked at Ela with a smirk before looking down at us, "We found him. We brought him back to town,"

I was puzzled. Why was she telling us about the missing person? I mean, I'm glad he was found, but that's not our business.

"That's good you found him. Was he harmed?"

The two GROM women stared at me, their smiles lost. It took them a moment to realize I wasn't on the same page.

Zofia's expression then looked at me with sadness, but she held a small smile. She stepped up to me and put a hand on my shoulder, "We found Jager…"

My heart nearly stopped. I'm an idiot. It was Jager she was telling us they found and brought to town!

She continued, "We're working on getting him home. There are still things that need to be worked out, but it's absolutely not an issue. He's going back to Germany where he can be properly buried."

She gave my shoulder a squeeze.

Losing all professionalism for the moment, I stood up and hugged her, tight. She didn't hesitate to firmly return the hug. This has been such a crazy disaster, where everything from day 1 was going as wrong as it possibly could. But now we're getting good news after good news. I could barely handle my emotions.

Joining in the hug, IQ wrapped her arms around Zofia and I. IQ was crying and quietly thanking Zofia and Ela.

Bandit had stood up from his seat but kept his distance.

"I'm not into group hugs… but I want to thank you both again, for everything." His words were more heart-felt than I have ever heard from him.

We broke up the hug and two women took our contact information to keep us informed about Jager, and generally to keep in touch. I reminded IQ that she agreed to swap her contact info with the Russian sniper.

She nodded to me and said to me with a grin, "I never forgot about that. Maxim and I exchanged our information, and he promised me he would give mine to Timur."

"That's great!" I responded, wondering if their friendship will flourish after this.

O

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O

After a while, Kapkan came back out to the waiting room and looked at us. He waved to us to follow him, merely saying, "Come,"

We obeyed, following him into the recovery room where Glaz was resting. I felt nervous as we entered the curtained-off room. The bed-ridden man was under warm, clean covers with an IV in his arm and a heart-rate monitor clipped onto his finger. His ankle was finally bandaged professionally and was resting atop a small pillow. He yawned.

"We're not disturbing you, are we?" I ask as he looks at us groggily.

He shakes his head softly, "Not at all. Glad you visit me,"

IQ walked up to the side of his bed and placed her hand over his exposed hand, giving a small squeeze, "I'm glad you're okay!"

He gave her a brief, but happy smile.

Kapkan was on the other side of the bed, "We will be leaving to Russia soon. I do not look forward to being on plane again," he growled.

"I wouldn't either. Glad we get to take the train," Bandit replied, waving his train ticket at the gruff Russian. Kapkan just grunted in response.

"I having your contact number, Monika," Glaz said to IQ, looking up to meet her cerulean-eyes with his sleepy frosty-blue eyes.

"Good. I promise to stay in touch, as long as you want to."

He nodded.

I decided I wanted to satiate a curiosity that had been plaguing me. Kapkan must have noticed I was contemplating something, because his eyes were on me now.

It took me a moment to get the courage to ask what I wanted to. But with Kapkan's eyes staring into my soul, waiting for me to say something, I finally started,

"You two have kissed each other… a few times. I realize it's none of my business, but," I stopped, thinking to myself how rude it was to ask.

"We already discussed this," Kapkan answered before I could get my question out.

"You have?" I ask, puzzled.

"Yes. I…" he trails off, looking down at Glaz. Their eyes meet.

He continues, with a gentleness, and even some nervousness, in his voice, "It is difficult for me to understand or accept, but I enjoy the feelings I have with you. For you. Timur."

Glaz slid his other hand out from under his blankets, and Kapkan grabbed hold of it, softly.

"Is okay, Maxim. You not having to understand all things that making you happy. Que sera, sera," Glaz's deep voice is still weak, but full of love.

"So you can speak Spanish just fine, but not English? Come on, Glaz," Bandit interrupts with his terrible sarcasm.

I give him a shove, "You are rude as ever, Dominic. When we get back I'm going to have to beat some manners into you. Besides, I think that phrase is Italian,"

Bandit recovers from my push and responds, "No, it's Spanish. And my manners are great,"

I shake my head and chuckle, "I am positive it's Italian,"

"It's originally Italian, but is generally spelled in the Spanish language, so you are both technically correct. Now stop," IQ says to us before she gives a laugh.

Maxim looks at IQ, "What does it mean?"

Glaz breathed out a weak laugh at Kapkan's response.

IQ answered, "It means 'whatever will be, will be'."

"Makes sense now," the taller Russian mutters.

"Alright, I think we should head out. Let's leave them alone," I say to my team.

"Wait, one more thing," Bandit begins. IQ and I both groan.

Bandit looks at Kapkan, looking serious, "Admit it to me now: Spetsnaz are gay. Just say it."

I don't understand Bandit. As always, I can't tell what his motivation is behind his words. Is he still trying to antagonize the Russian? Is he just trying to win an argument that never really existed? Dummkopf.

"Your questions are stupid. Don't ever talk to me again," Maxim answered, glaring back at my irritating teammate.

Bandit glared back, "Just admit I was right!"

I was tempted to cover his mouth and drag him out of the room.

"I am glad I will never have to see you again," Kapkan answered, "You irritate me."

"I'm just kidding around," Bandit admits with an annoyed sigh.

"Your joking is awful," Glaz said to him, "Your stupid joking is killing me more fast than all the blood I lose in the cabin,"

We all gave a laugh at Glaz's sarcastic put-down. Even Bandit grinned at him.

"Okay, assholes, we'll go then," he responds, light-heartedly.

Kapkan leaves Glaz's side and walks up to Bandit, extending his hand.

Bandit meets his eyes, both of them looking at each other as they give a firm handshake. They both smile afterwards.

We all shake hands before we leave, IQ giving Glaz a hug instead, and promising him again she will stay in touch. I'm glad she will, and I know she's true to her word.

O

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O

The train was headed straight to Germany.

Bandit and I shared a seat, sat across from IQ sitting alone, separated from us by only a couple of feet. She was leaning against the wall, fast asleep, as the trained gently rocked.

Bandit had his arms crossed, his head down, and his eyes closed. The hood on his gray hoodie was up over his head and pulled down to cover his eyes.

I was carefully looking over the ring in my fingers. Jager's ring. My heart was still so heavy from losing him, and I know it would always hurt. I know it wasn't his fault we crashed. The storm that brought our plane down was so sudden, and so brutal, he did the best he could in that situation.

I still feel an overwhelming guilt every time I remind myself he could still be alive if I had made the order to venture for help sooner. Everything leading up to his death felt like mistakes that weighed upon my shoulders, and mine alone. My throat tightened whenever I let my mind sink too deep into my regrets. The worst part is that his fiancée will be hearing about him soon, if she hasn't been notified already. And by now, she has given birth to their child…

God, I'm sorry, Marius. I wish you could have at least gotten to see your newborn baby.

"I've been thinking," Dominic's voice startled me from my pathetic thoughts. I looked over at him. He hadn't even budged, but continued, "Marius was really a nice guy. A genuinely nice guy. I always liked that about him. I've never been considered a nice person,"

"You are nice," I tell him, honestly. He has his flaws, but we all do.

Bandit takes in a deep breath, then sighs, "Nah, not like him. I used to think it was pointless, being so kind and considerate to people you don't even know or like, like he was. How he told me he wanted to show kindness to Glaz? I thought he was being an idiot, and that his softness was going to make him vulnerable,"

"But, after all of this, now that he's dead, I feel like I was dumb for ever thinking that. I still think it's dangerous to be so needlessly nice to people, but it worked for him. People liked him, and trusted him. And despite what I considered his weakness, he's one of the strongest guys I've ever known. Being distant and untrusting of others is how I stay strong. I admire him for being a good guy, but that's not me. I do what I need to, to protect myself,"

He slowly pulls his hood down and looks at me, uncrossing his arms. I'm looking into his eyes as he continues,

"I know you give yourself shit for his death,"

I looked back at the ring in my hand, frowning, but continued quietly listening.

"If you could have done something different, you would have. There was nothing you could have done for him. We learned that the closest town was far-as-fuck away from us, considering all the snow and the storms we had to deal with. We probably would have gone in the wrong direction, anyway, and we all would have died. That would have been stupid. You're not stupid. That's why you're in charge."

He's quiet for a moment. I feel him looking at me still, so I slowly look back to meet his eyes. I'm at a loss for words.

"Elias, I've been thinking a lot of how things could have gone better. So has IQ. And the Russians. But it happened how it happened, so now we have to accept it and move on,"

I nod to him, "You're right. It's hard. I will need time to heal, but I will be okay."

"Yeah, I know you will be. I'm not going to let you get overwhelmed by this," he put his hand on my shoulder to comfort me.

"It's going to be alright, Elias. You know what they say in Mexico?"

"What?"

"Que sera, sera,"

He has the nerve to smile at me like he's serious.

I exaggerate my sigh, "Dominic, you're going to be the reason I'm overwhelmed…"

I smile back at him.

And for the rest of the trip, my heart and my mind were at ease.

O

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 **Thank you so much for reading.**

 **Let me know if you liked it.**

 **Take care.**


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